Comparison Of My Love Is Like To Ice And I To Fire By Edmund Spenser

In “Amoretti XXX: My love is like to ice, and I to fire” by Edmund Spenser and “Sonnet 130” by William Shakespeare, both poets discuss their speaker’s individual love life circumstances. Spenser uses negative degree diction, hyperbole, tone, and an unconventional approach of sonnet form to convey his speaker’s unrequited love experience. Shakespeare uses negative diction, hyperbole, tone, and an unconventional approach of sonnet form to convey his speaker’s thoughts on his lover’s appearance and nature.

In “Amoretti XXX: My love is like to ice, and I to fire” by Edmund Spenser and “Sonnet 130” by William Shakespeare, both poets approach sonnet form in unclassical ways. For Spenser, his poem differs from the classical sonnet form because the

In “Sonnet 130”, the lines differ from classical sonnet form because instead of worshipping his lover’s appearance like typical sonnets do,

Spenser uses hyperbole to enhance the speaker’s behavior towards his love interest stating although “…her heart-frozen cold,…I burn much more in boiling sweat,…”(6-7). Line seven includes exaggeration as one cannot release sweat of boiling temperatures. In “Sonnet 130”, Shakespeare use hyperbole stating that “…the breath …[of the speaker’s]… mistress reeks” (8). No one would write a poem and advertise the fact that his mistress’ breath reeks because that socially stands as not a great trait to boast about and he would also appear to lack respect for his lover as this serves as embarrassment for her; therefore, the audience of this piece easily picks up on Shakespeare’s exaggeration and Shakespeare created the speaker of “Sonnet 130” to step out of his own identity and create a curt man who defies worshiping his